Archive for October, 2011
Congressman Ron Paul And College Student Loans: Denial Of Educational Opportunity!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 31, 2011
Libertarian and Republican Presidential candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul always draws interest when he makes his statements and announces his platform, because it is so contradictory to that of all the other GOP candidates.
He is much loved by many young people, including college students, who have a utopian view of having very little government in the complex world of the 21st century.
However, with his new suggestion that college student loans be ended over a period of time, along with the Department of Education itself, many young people and other Americans who are enamored with him might have second thoughts.
His comment that anyone who wants an education will be able to get one is preposterous on its face, as realize how many poor whites and minorities go into the military precisely for the chance to get a low cost education, something that should not be a factor in volunteering to put oneself in harm’s way!
While many students may graduate with high levels of debt, to eliminate the government promoting education is a guarantee of FEWER college graduates, which even with the tough realities of unemployment problems today, is still the best way to promote job success and increased standard of living long term!
What Paul is doing is condemning millions of people not so fortunate to have wealthy parents, and facing the problems of constant struggle to survive, to have no way out of poverty or the struggling lower middle class!
That is only to be condemned as heartless, uncaring, narrow minded, and elitist, and certainly, Senator Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, with a father who was a doctor in his younger years, did not face that kind of personal struggle, which might have prevented him from his career as an eye doctor before seeking public office!
This is more than enough reason to eliminate Ron Paul as a serious Presidential candidate, although it is certain that the GOP electorate will do that effectively in the early caucuses and primaries!
The Implosion Of Herman Cain: Arrogance, Egotism, And Sexual Harassment!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 31, 2011
So the Herman Cain candidacy was “fun” while it lasted, even though it lacked any principle, consistency, or substance!
How anyone could have seen Herman Cain as qualified to be President, when even his business background has been less than Wendell Willkie in 1940, the only businessman with no political experience to be a Presidential nominee, is beyond understanding!
The man has no concept or understanding of what it means to be President, as shown by his 9-9-9 plan, his abortion statements, his comments on a border fence to keep out illegal immigrants, his thoughts on dealing with terrorism, and refusing the idea of any Muslims in his cabinet.
For Herman Cain to believe he was qualified to be President shows a high level of arrogance and egotism, and it is just further proved by the revelation of charges of sexual harassment by two female staffers at the National Restaurant Association back in the 1990s, who were paid financial settlements and signed agreements not to talk about the incidents publicly.
Herman Cain refused to answer when asked four times by a reporter from Politico, and yet it is known such financial arrangements did occur, so it means Herman Cain’s campaign, while it might go on for a while, is not going to survive long term. The issue will dog him on the campaign trail, and it should turn evangelical Christians in Iowa and elsewhere against his candidacy.
To blame liberals for the reports is hypocrisy personified, as it is well known that many liberals have been exposed for sexual harassment, and this is not an issue of ideology. It is an issue of honesty, integrity, ethics, and responsibility for personal behavior, and Herman Cain cannot be allowed to claim he is a victim, what could be called the Clarence Thomas card!
Instead, just as much as John Edwards, Bill Clinton, and others have been pursued, personal behavior for public figures DOES matter, and it has nothing to do with politics!
The Mississippi “Personhood” Ballot Initiative: A Threat To Women And Common Sense!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 31, 2011
The state of Mississippi, infamous for its long history of extreme racial violence and discrimination, is now attempting by ballot initiative to take down Roe V. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision which allows women the right to control their own reproductive lives.
It is one thing to claim that a five month fetus is seen as a “person” which might be able to live outside the womb. It is another thing to claim that a fertilized egg is to be seen as a “person”, and to declare that using an IUD, birth control pills, or the morning after pill (RU 486), all contraception methods is murder. It is outrageous that doctors, nurses, and the women themselves could be brought up on murder charges if an abortion is used to save the life of the mother in a situation where the pregnancy endangers her existence.
It is ironic that Mississippi, the state judged the MOST RELIGIOUS, would be the state that has no concern for women’s rights, and treats women as being controlled by men, who have no concept of what a pregnancy does to a woman, and to take the sexist view that every act of sexual intercourse should lead to a potential child.
It is also par for the course that Mississippi has the most violent record of mistreatment of African Americans of any state, and should hold its head in shame collectively for having the gall to promote such an initiative! Also, Mississippi is infamous for having many more capital punishment cases than most states.
Mississippi, close to the cheapest state in its attitude toward the poor, is also demonstrating yet again that it only is concerned about the birth of a fetus, rather than the health and welfare of its women and its poor population!
What hypocrisy, but it demonstrates just how significant the issue of the Supreme Court is in the upcoming Presidential Election of 2012, as if the Republican nominee wins, the rights of women will be curtailed by right wing Court appointments over time, and we will be back to the level of back alley abortions and unnecessary deaths of women who will not allow their personal lives to be controlled by religious zealots and theocratic fanatics
Conservative And Republican Ideas On Economy: Proved Wrong By What Has Happened In Great Britain In Past Year
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 30, 2011
Conservatives and Republicans keep on arguing that budget cuts are the answer, without any tax increases, and that government spending is the villain.
Meanwhile, the British government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has been promoting fiscal austerity, which has failed to help their economic situation. Unemployment has risen, and the budget cuts have not revived business confidence or encouraged more hiring, as people have less to spend as a result.
The British are suffering with a bad economy made far worse by spending cuts in the public sphere. All it has done is make for more future budget cuts as people cannot spend, and is leading toward a policy that did not work during the early years of the Great Depression, but only made it far worse.
Promoting fiscal austerity only will doom the British economy to a long period of no growth and worse economic conditions. Cutting government spending will only cause reduced demand and less tax revenue, and the British experience should be a warning sign to the American government and the American people.
Will we learn from past mistakes during the Great Depression, or will we again prove that we do not learn from the lessons of history?
125th Anniversary Of Statue Of Liberty: Its Message Regarding Immigration
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 28, 2011
Today marks the 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, an icon of American values which has inspired generations of Americans, and has been a symbol of the best about America: its Immigrants!
The author, with his two sons, visited Liberty Island in 2010, and found it truly inspirational, with its message of the reality that America is a land of immigrants, the last best hope for refugees all around the world.
It is significant that Immigrants through the generations have faced discrimination, prejudice, and injustice, and the same fate awaits many immigrants, legal and illegal today.
Immigration has become a hot button issue in American politics, and its ugliness is very disturbing, but it must be remembered that it has always strengthened us as a nation, and we cannot allow nativism to rear its ugly head and deny basic human rights to those who come to our shores for a better life.
America is a nation of all nations, and that is its greatest virtue!
The Growing Inequity Of Wealth In America: Unconscionable!
Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on October 28, 2011
The Congressional Budget Office confirmed this week what has been well known for quite some time: America has seen a concentration of wealth in the past thirty years as never before in American history.
Income for the top one percent increased 275 percent, while the top 20 percent went up 65 percent. At the same time, the 20th percentile to the 80th percentile went up about 40 percent, and the lowest fifth 18 percent.
The top one percent of income earners control as much of the nation’s total income as they had on the eve of the Great Depression. They had 23.94 percent of the national income in 1929 and 23.5 percent in 2007.
When one looks at the top one tenth of one percent, the richest of the rich, they controlled 2.8 percent of national income in 1913, when the income tax amendment was put into the Constitution. In 2007, the top one tenth of one percent earned 6 percent of national income.
One major difference today is that the wealthiest usually have it from being financial and corporate executives, while in earlier times, they were mostly living off inherited wealth.
These figures cry out on why the “Occupy Wall Street” movement resonates among many Americans, and calls for some kind of action to tax the wealthy more to help resolve the budget crisis and deal with the many social and economic problems we face today in 2011.